copenhagen are very positive about this. last election, it was partly run up by some of the politicians, and one of those was our mayor. the politicians now, they say there is something for everyone. the issues which are the most important to accommodate -- they choose which were the most important to accommodate, and those are pedestrians and cyclists. i think we're doing what is

necessary to reach the goal. this is our mayor, a photo opportunity. it is a possibility to be seen. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you very much. our next speaker is peter. peter is supervisor and senior adviser of the traffic and transport division at the chamber of commerce, amsterdam. they are partners with businesses and public authorities to develop a robust

and economically healthy region. they supervise a team of professionals in the port industries, barge, rail, and road transport. sounds like mta. the chamber of commerce amsterdam is known as an element of innovative approach to connectivity and mobility. he is strong and establishing unique partnership to create groundbreaking solutions. he started a task force formability management for employers and employees to reduce car trafficked by 10%. -- he started a task force for mobility management for employers and employees to reduce traffic by 10%. >> i will give you the perspective of the business community in amsterdam. athis is the region of amsterda.

this is the inner city of amsterdam, and the rest of the city are the suburbs. the whole city, there are 2.2 million people, but the real city of amsterdam, there are less than 800,000, which i think is about the same as san francisco. i will also pass around a few sheets. the important thing is that amsterdam is one of the five major economic central's -- economic centers in europe, and we want to stay that way, and we are an attractive city for international business, like the american and asian companies that like to have business in amsterdam. it is a real nice place to stay.

experts like to live in amsterdam, and is accessible from all parts of the world. it is also very important case of cycling. what irony said, 2.2 million and happens, but the last line may be the most important, about 120 kilometers per day traffic jams. that is qu7?) a lot. this distance is not more than 25k. we have a real problem. that is not good for business. for us, it is active transport, really important as a solution for being accessible. ok, does it work? yes. this is the city. at the red lines, these are the congestion. this is the pattern of workers who go to work in the morning

and in the afternoon. most of the workers come from outside of the city of amsterdam. they come mostly by car, but also a big part from public transport. what was the conclusion of all the businesses? if we go on like this, we have a real big problem in one, two years, maybe a little bit longer, we will not have any mobility anymore in our own region. that was one of the reasons that businesses came together and they were thinking, what can we do, not for a long time because it takes time, but what can we do today that helps today? that is important for the accessibility, and accessibility is very important for good,

competition against the other regions in europe. of course, it is very important for the quality of life. if we want to attract international business, we need to attract people from outside. they only come if it is nice to live in your city. k4they were trying to reduce te parking, which was 10%. we went into negotiation with the employers' organizations and with employers, telling them that it is not only a problem of the public, but also a problem of their own companies. it worked. after half a year of talking, 17 companies directly signed the agreement, also some americans

among them. it was quite a lot. we made a program for motivating employees working at home. it is quite easy to work from home, do your work from where you are, making smart working centers. it is better than if you need to go to an office. you do not need to go to your office. there are also similar programs for bicycles. we also worked on business areas. !ñppwe started sharing bicycles,

scooters, car sharing, people who live in the same village for the same street, different companies, we brought them together so they could share a vehicle. we also were in discussion with the local authorities about optimizing the public transport. if you know how many people work in an area and you know where they live, it is much easier to negotiate a direct line for public transport. what we also did we organized a bureau that was helping companies, and also smaller companies, by making mobility part of their common sense of

how to organize their own organization. this whole program cost about $130 million. about one-quarter of it was paid by the employers, two-thirds is paid by the local authorities, and the employers have also cost for their own organization. what are the benefits? the benefits are, in the organization, cutting costs. you do not have the cost of the parking lot. you can have less office space the case you have many people working from home. also quite interesting, in the netherlands, it is even a way to attract young talent because young talent nowadays does not

want to work from 9:00 until 5:00, 6:00. they want to choose themselves when they work and where they work. with the home working, they can decide themselves when, where, and how they work, and most important as they do their work. it does not matter when. especially young talent wants to have that freedom for themselves. the city could be an attractive employer and get the best ones for your office. it is also good for the health of the employees. by having held the employees, you have higher productivity. -- by having healthier employees, you have higher productivity. it is a benefit to the employees and the employers. this is a nice sheet, because it

gives the model shift for people going to work. 52% with cars. in the average year, it is about 1 billion euros of investment in the car infrastructure. 22% public transport, 750 billion investment in public transport. 21% of the trips from home to work is by bicycle. only 30 million euros per year. this is the network in the region for bicycling.

this is the inner city of amsterdam. it is important know, what are the benefits for the employer? i already told you that. also, in the netherlands, we're not so good with racing cyclists. all the champions from last year are from italy, spain, or your country, never from the netherlands. but cycling is more than racing, it is a way of transport. especially for the first 7 kilometers, in combination with public transport. the last lines are important. for instance, in at the city of amsterdam, 85% of the trips are

faster by bike then by car -- then by car. i do everything by bicycle. i am a slow cyclist, and i am still faster through the city. that is why most of the people in amsterdam go by bike. if your interested in funny and nice invidious, go to youtube. but you will see a lot of videos in which the bicycle and the car cooperate. these are some pictures and examples of how the public authorities can invest in cycling. this is a parking space for a cyclist.

tend thousand bicycles can be stored there. -- 10,000 bicycles can be stored there. you can build a shelter for about 30,000 bicycles. now, what can employees do? many employees are working on the bicycle programs. this picture is a picture of a bicycle shelter at the company where my wife works. it is quite luxurious. that it is a lawyer's firm, 500 lawyers work there, and most of them, by bicycle. -- and most of them come by bicycle. many companies give their employees their bicycle with

their name on that. it is a form of advertisement. many companies, the company where i work for, the chamber of commerce, they have bicycle and scooter sharing for the people to come by public transport. they can take a bicycle or a scooter to go to their place. many companies are stimulating their employees who are coming by bicycle because it is much cheaper than coming by car. it is also easier for these companies to start their business on a more "a" location instead of de "b" location. -- instead of faye "b" location.

many employers work on bicycles. thank you. [applause] >> thank you very much, peter. maybe i need to ask if i can vary from the script. i'm supposed to say that unfortunately we are out of time, but we are not. maybe what i will do is have you will come up here and sit around a table. if we could get some chairs? yeah, and could you turn on the lights? very good. and is there another microphone? there are two.

staff will pass them around if you have questions. what we will do is, unless you want to add to some of what you said and what you have heard this morning, we had a couple hours of staff, city staff discussing with them our experiences, and then reacting to our conditions and pitfalls and predicaments. if you have any observations from this morning's presentation, if you like to share that with us. [inaudible] very good. so we will go with andy? did you have your hand up? >> no. >> ok, you serve. >> i have living and -- i have

been living in copenhagen, bicycling. one of the things i think is very important at makes bicycles work in copenhagen is that most people live in apartments in the city and people have places to keep their bicycles. they did not have to bring their bicycle up three, four floors into their apartments. in san francisco, you have to take your bicycle up. if that was the situation in copenhagen, i think less than half the people who by now would bike. or people have to have wider bikes or folding bike. but having a heavy bike in a two-room apartment is very detrimental. i think that needs to be addressed in at san francisco. >> problems of bicycles and space needs. at least they're not having to carry their up cars up to their apartments. how you deal with that in copenhagen?

>> i think people just throw their bicycle against the wall where they live normally. but it is a responsibility for the city. that is why we have parking spaces were people live and work and shop. -- where people live and work and shop. that is a discussion every time, what is adequate? >> in the netherlands, if you want to have a permit to build a house, it is mandatory that there is a place to park your bike. in rotterdam, they have the same situation. there, they put bicycle boxes on the street.

the people who do not have space to park their by -- park their bike in the house, they can put their plight on the lockable shelters on the streets. in the netherlands, they provide for this problem. >> the amount of space that a bicycle and needs versus the amount of space that a car needs. at the very least, we would require parking. if you think about bicycles being the mode of travel, you

should require bicycle parking be more convenient. next question. >> going off the bicycle parking to all the mobile parking, i am with the san francisco bicycle coalition. we were talking last night in oakland about various cities and the congestion issues and congestion pricing versus perhaps parking pricing. i was wondering if he could tell us the politics of pricing automobile parking versus congestion parking. in at san francisco, one of the biggest challenges is car is going past you at 40 m.p.h. and getting cars to go slower and not be in the city as we were

looking at on market street. a lot of it is about reducing cars. i know in copenhagen, we look at what has been done with diminishing car parking, but maybe speak to car parking as part of this. >> in copenhagen, the cars cost double price because of taxes. not so many people have a car. copenhagen is like new york, i guess, people do not need cars as much. many people want to commute into the center from the suburbs. that is what we want to prevent. that is why we have such high costs, high taxes on parking your car. the closer that you get to the center, the more expensive.

but there is a limit how much we can turn away. that is why we also want to have some systems. i think if we're going to read 50% share of cycling for commuting, it is not enough to offer a good infrastructure. you also need possibly a toll road where people pay for driving and the city. -- for driving into the city. >> i can tell you what it costs in amsterdam. amsterdam is the most expensive place to park your car. it is now 5 euros, nearly $7 per hour, 24 hours per day.

also, the question from andy, about 12 years ago, we had a referendum, what to do with the cars in the city. the majority voted for less cars in the city. the last 10 years, the amount of cars went down. it is down 20%, and that was done by making the profiles of the roads a little bit smaller, adding more room for cyclists and public transport, and bringing of the parking fees. it also what we did that time, for all new inhabitants, he needed a permit to park your car. you did not have a space, but you need it wanted park. that also cost money.

every family can only have one permit. all the businesses have also a limited amount of parking spaces. by that, you regulate the amount of parking space, and by that also, eliminate the cars that come into the city. leaders of business say we do not need road pricing or congestion feed because we already have that by the parking fees. what we also see is it did not affect the business in the city center because the people who did not really need to go into the city are now staying out or

coming in by public transport or bicycle. nowadays, the businessmen who need to go into the city with his car for a)> hour, always has room, always pays, even in the neighborhood of the business. there is a limit on tariffs. 5 euros is enough. [inaudible] most business people are afraid that making parking more expensive will actual impact their ability to do business --

will actually impact their ability to do business. >> it also depends on the sort of business and the sort of street. for instance, if the go on the street where gucci is and so on, and you need enough parking spaces. >> with the chairman of the society of amsterdam, they are also supporting this approach. they realize if they just press on the car accessibility only, in the end there will be no excess ability at all. they support strongly that only the people who need to come by car, they should be able to

come, and the rest should make other choices. >> i think we are more or less at the stage where we are facing the same discussion. our experience is that a platform of business is much more open to try to find solutions which are not car- related, except for here and there. also, for the population, it is hard. they have in mind, if you are better off to have a car, and have the car in front of your door. it is still a long way to go for us. the mobility plans that local authorities are now obliged to develop, and the hearings that are organized because of that,

are almost always concerning parking places. we have now a program where we are having one less car parking space. in the streets, you see, there is one car less because now bicycles can ride their bikes, but the comments are not as enthusiastic. you will have to be from the cycling movement to be happy about that. it is a hard struggle. >> you, sir? >> with health insurance, i think people are realizing it is an idea whose time has come. maybe we're trying to make the same thing with cycling. in the united states, many people, especially in big cities, are much more resistant to the idea,